Category Archives: Fossils

Custom Jewelry-FOR ME!

Sometimes Kharma appears on my workbench!

I recently was working on some silver-copper nuggets from the Keweenaw, when I discovered a beach-tumbled nugget that I forgot I had.

A beach-tumbled Copper Nugget. It looked amazingly like a Penguin.

I thought “that little nugget looks exactly like a penguin”. This got me thinking of what I could do with this small discovery. I love penguins; they are so cute, and I really enjoy watching them at the Jacksonville Zoo, at the recently visited Tennessee Aquarium in Chatanooga, or in documentaries (or the cartoon movies adds my wife).

I thought of the Emperor Penquins, and their lives. nesting in their harsh Anarctica environment.

Examining a nice piece of Fossilized Coral.

There are infinite possibilities here. Botryoidal agatized Coral fromTampa Bay.

At this same time I found some beautiful Fossilized Coral from Tampa Bay. (Fossilized Coral is the State Stone of Florida). This was the perfect environment in which to set my copper penguin. He (or she) fit right in to this ice-cave-like Petrified Coral.

I’m going to reveal this piece of jewelry at our annual rock club show this month in Traverse City. But since you are reading this blog, you deserve the reveal.

I have claimed this for myself (for now). I have been wintering in Florida, and lived in Michigan all my life, so this is my Florida/Michigan piece.

Tucson Gem, Mineral & Fossil Shows-22nd Street Revisited

I’m sure you have seen these Pyritized Ammonites before. (on right). Septarian cabs on the left. At Bright Star Gemstones.

The 22nd Street Mineral and Fossil Show is one that may prove rewarding upon a re-visit. The Showcase tent was an example of how things change with a few new vendors added to the mix, some fossils sold, and others took their place.

I seemed to miss some of the display cases on the last visit, as well as other things. So this will basically be some pictures of the new things, or some old things I may have shown you, or not. My old mind can’t remember things when it becomes sensory overloaded here in Tucson.

How do you describe this? A hot chick, metal chick, with a bird. This is why you see the picture. Loved the bicycle chain hair!

A very appealing display in the corner.

Megalodon Teeth Galore at Relics II; big ones and small ones.

Gem trees

Wooly Mammoth and Mastadon teeth pieces. Did you know I have made jewelry from Mastadon Teeth?

Petrified Wood

Butterflies at a rock show-Surprising but not not shocking.

The white side was carved.

Very unique how the carver used matte and polished surfaces.

Molded cast of a Giant Beaver (10,000 year old animal).

Uncounted Spheres

Display Case #1 at Showcase Show

Showcase #2 at Showcase Show 22nd Street.

Showcase #3 at Show

The Tucson Gem & Mineral Show (The Main Show at the Convention Center) opens tomorrow and we will be there. It’ll take me several blogs to cover that one show because there are so many displays. I’m only a couple shows behind right now, but eventually you’ll see almost everything we’ve done. Thanks for reading and riding along. Can you help spread the word by sharing our blog?

Tucson Gem Shows-Mineral & Fossil Co-op

The best window dressing of all time. Worlds largest Megaladon Mouth

Looking out the window. I wonder if that woman knows she’s about to be chomped? 7 to 8 foot mouth I’d guess. Perhaps 80 feet long.

The Mineral & Fossil Co-op is included in the Tucson Show Guide, but is a permanent business located at 1635 N. Oracle (Main Avenue turns into Oracle). We always enjoy visiting there for the high end fossils, and products.

This year as I walked in and the first thing that caught my eye was what is claimed to be the largest Megalodon jaw in the world. The Carcharocles megalodon from the Cenozoic era (15.9 to 2.6 million years ago) was the largest predator that ever existed. 182 fine meg teeth make up the jaw. The largest tooth is 7 5/8″ in length along the diagonal and is among the largest meg tooth ever found. Vito Bertucci “The Megalodon Man” took 16 years to collect teeth the correct size to make this jaw. He made several other jaws that are on display in other museums and aquariums. He died in 2004 while diving for sharks teeth in South Carolina.

Ammonites Galore

Ammonites

Spheres of all types

If you have a little more room.

Ammonite’s abound at the Co-op at many dealers there. Any size and type are available. Large Crinoid Plate similar to the one I showed you the other day is for sale and I took a close up to show detail.

Crinoids

Many of the fossil’s and minerals at the Co-op were at other shows being sold, but many were remaining to look at.

Ron Coleman crystal

Wooly Mammoths, and Mastadons tusks, oh my!

Russian Giant Elk

Stegasaurus

Frigate Bird

Coleman Quartz had many wonderful crystal clusters, and my favorite dealer at the Co-op GeoDecor always has great fossils on their walls and on the floor; a couple of note were a 50 million year old Frigate Bird, A Russian Giant Elk, a Stegosaurus, and a Triceratops.

Some beautiful Colorful Ammonites were being sold at the Sahara Sea Gallery, Rosman had an assortent of gorgeous Spheres, and Russell-Zuhl had Petrified Wood tables and the like.

A Perfect Petoskey Stone Fossil

The entire specimen about 3″X6″

Notice the Detail?

Do you really know what a Hexagonaria Coral looked like when it was alive during the Devonian Age? Neither do I. You can get an idea by looking online at artist’s rendering based on what corals look like today.

The Petoskey Stones we find in our area of NW Lower Michigan are lovely; whites, grays of various shades, and sometimes a little pink, yellow, or blue mixed in. These are calcified fossils and polish to an attractive shine that enhances the coloration and pattern.

Underside

Many years ago I purchased a collection of rocks and minerals that contained one very remarkable Hexagonaria. I just put it aside and forgot I had it for about 20 years. My wife Bonnie sometimes dares to comes down to the shop and TRIES to as she says “neaten up”. She rediscovered this fossil with others back in the recesses of my storage area.

Hexagon shaped chambers with polyps’ peaking out

Close-up of Polyps. Notice the chamber wall striations.

I was amazed at the detail of the fossil. I simply cleaned the dust and cobwebs off with some Dawn soap and a toothbrush. I ground off the rough bottom so it sets straight. Imagine my surprise when my hard diamond wheels were sparking and I found that the fossil was not the normal Calcite, but very hard Quartz. Because this Petoskey was a Silica replacement fossil it remained undamaged and perfectly petrified for these millions of years. I have to suspect that this fossil was early Devonian. I have no idea where this specimen was found, but I was happy it was re-found in my barn and I could show it to you.

First off, my fossil has a yellow tinge. All the individual Polyps show high resolution and even perfect mouths. The living part of the Hexagonaria was called a polyp, and the dark spot we see in the center of the Hexagon shaped chamber was the polyp’s mouth. The animal had tenticles like most modern corals, that grabbed plankton as it drifted by then fed this food into its’ mouth.

See the tentacles?

The resolution is so good in this fossil that you can actually see some tenticles and perfect striations on the walls of the individual chambers.

I am knowledgeable about Petoskey Stones, but I am by far not a leading expert. I base my text on what I know from collecting devonian Fossils for 40 years.

Pyritized Ammonite Jewelry

Treasures from the Tucson Gem Shows

Finding pyritize ammonites around the Tucson gem shows is not that difficult, but it is hard to find large, whole undamaged Pyritized Ammonites.

Ammonites are extinct mullusks related to modern day Squids, Octipus, and Cuttlefish. They had compartmentalized bodies. This feature makes them very interesting when the inside is exposed to show these compartments.

The rear

Wonderful, large, Ammonites sporting multi-colored Opalized surfaces fetch many thousands of dollars at the Tucson Shows. These large showy Mullusks are mines in Alberta, Canada. Smaller inexpensive Ammonites are available by the millions from Moroccan dealers. We see Ammonites with a coating of Pyrite and we see fully Pyritized Ammonites like the one I found.

Giant Opalized Gem Ammonite from Alberta

These fully Pyritize Ammonites are from a location about 30 miles from Moscow. Similar ones come from other worldwide locales. I find wrapping these lots of fun but you have to be very careful with your tools as the interior structure is somewhat fragile.

We have had variations of ammonite used in our jewelry. I have made a dual piece with tiger eye, and ammonite encased in mammoth ivory, as well as the expected shiny-bright ammonite. You can see the current selection at our Fossil Jewelry page.

Bones and Linghams at the Tucson Shows

Sunny mid 70’s

We noticed in the show guide a couple of shows we haven’t visited yet this year. We think of this first show as the Bazaar, because of all the Middle Eastern jewelry, clothing, small metal containers, a dark passageway filled with colorful lights. The main ballroom was filled with bead suppliers, and a smaller central room had ancient pieces with big chunky rough beads. There was lots of jade beads of various types and things an archeologist would love to find.

Speaking of dangers, an American with mixed heritage regularly goes to Pakistan. He said everything is done in cash. Imagine dealing with tribes in the mountains and carrying thousands or hundreds of thousands, and trying to stay safe.

There were rooms of beads, wonderful natural Southwest turquoise, and various hand made jewelry items of varying interest. A fellow in the center area had rocks and I found a solid looking azurite piece that I plan to make into jewelry.

As we were driving away we came across another Arizona Mineral and Fossil show (there are 3 locations with the same name), and they had parking available so we kicked around there a bit. This is at the Ramada Inn where most of the vendors are in the hotel rooms, but there is a large tent featuring Alaskan carved deer, elk antlers and moose buttons. A couple years ago I met a dealer sold me a piece of mammoth tooth that I made into jewelry as an experiment. I saw him again today and bought a couple more slices that looked hard enough to be wire wrapped. They are stabilized, but still a lapidary artist might have trouble with the variation in softness of the areas of the tooth, so they are tricky.

The Russian guy, that I could not understand, had some nice fossils. He moved everything out of his room so he could get the fossils in.

One room I attempted to speak to a Russian and I found that I really have a problem understanding Russian, but he seemed to be very proud of his fossils. He had his room set up like a little museum.

Miles’ Mastodon Tusk.

Miles had fair prices for tusks ivory.

I bought a few slabs of Mastodon Ivory to make jewelry.

We saw a lot of fossil mammal parts, and we noticed a large mastodon tusk for sale. Miles Martin from Alaska had photos of his recovery of mastodon tusk near Denali. He had a large collection of mastodon tusk pieces, pairs you could make knife handles with and mastodon slices for lapidary work. I have never made jewelry from mastodon tusk, but I will this year. Miles recounted how he takes a flat bottom boat 400 miles down a river with no gas stations to find and extract tusks that may be emerging from melting permafrost. He mentioned several dangers, isolation, river sand bars, bears, and “scary weird people” that might be living out there dodging the law because they are “wanted” elsewhere. He’s written seven books about his adventures. He was a colorful character.

A couple Mammoth Teeth slabs were bought from this pile; jewelry to follow in the near future.

One of our pleasures is learning the stories of the people we meet, how they got into what they are doing, and what their challenges are to get their rock products to us.

Moose “Buttons”

Carvings galore

At the Ramada Inn, Alaska Creations had unique carvings made from “Moose Buttons”. The “Buttons” are where the antlers attach to the skull. The antlers are shed and he cut these buttons off and carved these amazing things. He had lots of carvings from Antlers of all kinds.

Carborundum from China. Pretty but not for jewelry. See the yellow material? It’s Orpiment, a dangerous toxic Arsenic Sulfide. Most people would never know what this is.

The colors of this carborundum is similar to Peacock Ore. A picture does not do justice to the colors.

Shiva Linghams Increases Vitality and Pranic Energy. The dirty little secret is most of these are not real Linghams, but are made.

There were more Linghams here than anywhere in Tucson.

Lots of fun in the sun today. See you tomorrow.

Ever See A Golden T-Rex? Tucson Rocks 2017

Sunny and 75

A show hardly anyone came to.

Lobby of Executive Inn

Because of the weekend, the major shows around town are packed with people, and parking is far out and the whole thing is hectic more than fun. We decided to do some small shows.

We went to the Executive Inn that listed around 30 vendors on two floors. The parking was free and there were almost no cars. When we went in there were 2 mineral display cases and a paper sign that said “Shows” to point us in the right direction. A few doors were open with little paper signs alerting us they were there. We found either 5 or 6 vendors on the first floor, and nothing on the second. I kind of felt sorry for these people from foreign countries who obviously had big expenses getting here, and this seemed to be such a small turnout. And the rooms were advertised as newly renovated. New? We wondered.

A Russian vendor had quality pyrite ammonites that I have used for jewelry before, so I selected one. Bonnie admired his Eudialite and Charoite rings and pendants and he had minerals. The best thing at this spot was the free parking, because from there we could walk across the street to the Mineral and Fossil Marketplace that had large tents and looked more promising.

In the past we have found small rock pieces of interest, so we scouted carefully. Like all the mineral and fossil shows, Madagascar fossils were prominent, as were Amethyst crystals. My eye was captured by Labradorite shining in the sun. This was some of the nicest I have seen in Tucson, oriented properly to bring out the maximum shimmer. These pieces were cut into blocks and polished so you could see exactly what you were getting. I bought a fin multicolored specimen and then went back and got a very fine gold Labradorite (some people refer to this as Spectrolite).

A dealer offered nice mineral specimens at good prices.

Never saw a gold T-Rex

sea Monsters

Muonionalusta Meteorite

A permanent building on the grounds sells medium/large prehistoric beasts. They had some great sea monsters, and a gilded T-Rex skull replica. I had never seen a gold T-Rex skull. Just what every house needs!

One of the vendors was a dealer in Muonolusta meteorite material. He searches meteorite fall areas, and he indicated that these are very hard to find now, and hard to dig up. Some are 8-10 feet underground because of glacial activity causing overburden over the meteorites. A backhoe is required as well as special large ray metal detectors to find them in the first place. And property owners don’t like to have big holes dug and disturb their trees.

We had these in Michigan also-Crinoids

Another tent had some fine fossil plates, one 12’x12’covered with a large crinoid colony.

A table full of Australian rocks

Tiger Iron

Wonderful specimens both individually and in trays; all at fair prices.

Most all the major Aussie minerals on one table.

Mookaite

Glenn Archer’s Tent

Glenn Archer had great specimens from remote areas of Australia. He had all the good stuff from there, slabs, chunks and smaller specimens.

We did not have to fight the crowds at this show.

Silver Ore from the Cobalt region of Canada

If you want some fine rough, go here. Random trays abounded.

This labradorite was the best I’ve seen for the money anywhere around Tucson.

I bought this one and another all gold one

Loads of dyed Brazillion slabs. Not really my cup of tea, but many people like these.

Nice Madagascar Stuff

The wall of Chrysocolla.

Because the crowds were at the big shows, we had a very nice time talking with the vendors at this show. We walked back to our free parking and admired the foundation of the old motel sign with many Chrysocolla rocks, the best part of this motel.

Tucson Gem, Mineral, & Fossil Shows 2014-Why It Pays To Be an Old Rockhound.

At the entrance to the Holidome tents. No photos allowed inside.

A high grade Turquoise boulder at a Holiday Inn Room.

Where should we go today? This is our coversation over coffee each morning. Today the Holidome show opened. This is a typical hotel show in some ways, but the addition of two big tents add the trade show feel as well. Last year the aisles were so narrow we had trouble with getting by other buyers and especially the “bead ladies” with their large wheeled suitcases in tow. (sometimes the Bead Ladies are really Bead Men, but the oversize luggage is the key identifier.) This year there is an additional connected tent, allowing wider aisles. One lady today insisted the shuttle drop her off on the sidewalk because her suitcase was 150# and the small wheels were useless on the peastone surface.

We first sought to replenish our jewelry chain supply and were able to find some high quality chains of assorted styles and sizes. This is a long and complicated procedure, getting some of this length and that, then moving to another thickness or pattern, then changing metals–silver, rose gold, yellow gold. After you select them, then comes the weighing and the wrapping and the paying. Chains are not so fun to deal with, Bonnie tells me. I really try to stay away.

We scooted through a lot of aisles, skipping past so much finished jewelry and slowing down to look over really nice cabochons or unusual displays.

Good Boulder Opal reasonable.

Walking the aisles we only bought a couple boulder opals. After a few days of busy purchasing it was good to lighten up. The favorite sculpture of the day (again, sorry no pics!) was three parrots carved from Blue Peruvian Opal and perched on top of a large quartz specimen. Memorable.

Randon rocks from the tailgate.

We found some vendors tailgating and we stopped to look. I found an interesting tub of rocks. While I was searching through a tub for treasures, Bonnie mosied (as she says) chatting up people. She likes to scout around and see if I have missed anything good. After I made the deal on my bag of rock, Bonnie said I should look at what one elderly gentleman had.

Old Luna from 50 years ago.

My jaw dropped when I saw he had old stock Luna Agate. I recognized this stuff from years ago. This material was acquired from an estate of an old rockhound (old meaning 103 when he died–maybe rockhunting is a healthy hobby!) who collected in Mexico over 60 years ago. The vendor said people had been walking right by, without even looking at his rare and extinct material. He knew what he had, and I knew what he had, so I did not object to the price. I would have bought it all had my pockets been deep enough. I give Bonnie credit for finding this little pile of treasure. We sure had fun pawing through his pile and trying to figure out which agate pieces would be the best.

A great slab at the Fossil Show

dactyloceras plate

We went to the Arizona Mineral & Fossil Show at the Ramada Inn. Not much was happening there. Some vendors had left or were packing even though this show is open until the 15th. The most interesting, high on the awesome scale were fish plates. Leaning against the second floor balcony from the ground up they were a large eye-catching display waiting for a great location, not in your average house. Bob Finney of Fossil Lake Fish Company gave me a card with the story. Another impressive but smaller plate was next to it with a fern and fossil fish swimming in the fossiliferous sediments. I’ve never seen a larger fossil plate. If you have a fat wallet ($150,000) and an oversize wall you could use this striking fossil centerpiece.

A real Giant of a fish plate with a giant price.

fishfern

These specimens came from southwestern Wyoming and formed 50 millions years ago. The Fossil Lake was around 930 miles, so many geologic features and fossils are being unearthed there. Lots of fossils from around the world are shown at this show.

I see a lot of younger attendees at these shows, rapidly scurrying here and there, as well as the more seasoned veterans, a bit slower, but a bit wiser as to choices they make and knowledge they bring to their choices. It is sort of like the tortoise and the hare race, the early bird might get the worm, but sometimes slow and steady wins the race. That was the case with me today. This is not the first time this has happened. My advice to younger rock hounds is to slow down, look around, and chat with the older folks who have been doing this awhile!

Look what I found in a box at Gary Wilson's booth. Yes a Keweenaw Point Datolite no one else identified.

Tucson Gem, Mineral, and Fossil Shows 2014-You can’t Tell A Book By Its’ Cover

A small number of vendors at "The Rock Show".

It has cooled off a bit here in Tucson, but low 60’s is still good for us. We anticipated big crowds today, so we headed off to The Hotel Tucson City Center early, got a great parking space, had coffee, and got busy looking around.

I learned something new..Some Dino's were Chrome; Cool!

No comment...

feedthedino We love the Orange Trees in the courtyard and found the dinosaurs feeding on the fresh fruit.

$17,500

Meteorites for my buddy Chris.

I marveled at beautiful Ammonites as usual. It seemed there were more of these Ammonites than usual. I was told there indeed were more because it is Chinese New Year and the Chinese seem to favor these fossils. I saw several with “Sold” on them.

The main room at the HTCC is where you will many major fossils, including large impressive Ammonites. I saw a 9′ long fossil Swordfish called a Protosphyraena nitida (Late Cretaceous). The room seemed to be busy, but not overwhelming. We had a great time at this show and will return.

I have a couple very special things I found today.

As usual I had to curb Bonnie’s lust for Sonoran Sunrise, but I did allow her to look at some, so I did solve her addiction for another day.

Vendors occupy rooms as with other hotel shows.

No telling what may be in a room.

The vendors occupy rooms at the hotel, many with amazing displays. One of the oddest contained carved Mammoth Tusks. If you are a specimen collector, or meteorite collector, this is the show. I saw Geoff Notkin (The Meteorite Men), selling assorted meteorites, including Muonionalusta slabs from meteorites actually found on the show. There were loads of space rock to be had here.

I saw my buddy Ken Flood at his Keeweenaw Gem & Gift Booth. He was very busy as usual. He had something very special to show me. This is one of the items I have to show you tomorrow. I have been hunting rocks in Michigan’s Keweenaw Peninsula for many years , and have never encountered anything like I purchased from Ken. NOW you’re curious, I’ll bet.

After lunch we drove about 10 miles north of the city center to a new show called The Rock Show. The Rock Show used to be adjacent to Electric Park (now Kino), but the property was sold, and the show went seeking a new location. We were glad someone at Quartzsite told us about this which was good because is isn’t even listed in the big book of shows. We did find it in a small brochure, so decided to head out to see what was there.

Bracciated Mookaite

Bonnie getting her fix. Her comment "Someone put a lot of time into polishing this, so I should admire it."

The Fossil Fish.

A nice selection from someone's cast off pile.

My gently used new saw.

Aspenite and Mexican Crazy Lace.

Check out the Thomsonite I found.

The most amazing Larimar I've seen. I mentioned it yesterday. I think the soft yellow with the Larimar Island is remarkable and unique.

A small group of vendors comprised the show, some who previously sold goods at the old Rock Show, and some new vendors. This is a dirt lot, east of I-10, we exited at #251. It looked like about 10-15 tents, a few RVs, sparsely populated. It didn’t look real promising, but since we drove out there, we decided to look around. This was a Sunday afternoon and only a handful of shoppers were around. Vendors were friendly, and there was good conversation and relaxed personal attention. No imported goods, and hardly any beads. It was like a tiny version of Desert Gardens at Quartzsite. One vendor had a tub filled with random slabs and rocks, many agates and jaspers that I like. Digging through the water in this tub produced some real surprises including gem silica, Condor Agates, shadow agates, picture petrified wood, Queensland Agates, and other “good stuff”. So far this was my favorite few minutes of the day–I love to look through other people’s discards. I ended up with about 5 pounds of treasures.

Another vendor had something I have not seen before, called Aspenite. it is a silicated limonite with chrysocolla from Oro De Conception in north central Mexico. Some of this rock had been sent to the GIA for identification, and they identified the minerals, but said it had no name. Not much has been found, and I splurged on a single small cabochons because the orange and green colors were so striking! And I love the unusual. I also bought the Crazy Lace Agate cabochon that you see in the picture because I liked the colors.

One vendor had an assortment of lapidary equipment on his table, some new and some used. I was attracted to a used 6″ Wizard rock saw. These are sturdy little units from Diamond Pacific. This one had been gently used and was in good condition, and included a saw blade. This was my equipment purchase for this year. Even though I have a few saws (maybe 7 or 8), each one has key attributes. I might have to sell off another old 6″ saw.

I guess the moral of this story is “You can’t judge a book by it’s cover.” You never know when treasures might be lurking in out of the way places. I hope this show succeeds, but they will need to do much more publicity in future years.

Tucson Gem, Mineral, and Fossil Shows 2014-Hot buys and Hot Miners

A nice group of Raptors. Triebold Paleontology always Impresses.

Another Triebold Specimen: This one a Thescelosaurus Neglectus (65 million years ago)

We were really excited today to get on with our buying and exploring at the Tucson Gem and Mineral Shows. There are some 41 official shows and several bandit shows scattered all over Tucson. They open and close at various times. You need a show guide (a large catalog) that lists the locations of shows, dealers, and dates for shows. Some shows require dealer ID, while others are Wholesale/Retail.

Buckets of Turquoise at J.O.G.S.

Turquoise Bead picking.

The J.O.G.S. Show opened at the Tucson Expo Center and we were near the front of the line. We were not really looking for anything in particular, so we Freestyled, looking for things we did not know we needed. Bonnie looked at, and purchased some beads. We look for quality and bargains, but were conservative in our purchases. The crowds were not large, but people were spending some money. I would call the J.O.G.S. show “busy”.

I saw buckets of Turquoise in the usual spot, some nice cabochons and much gem material. Perhaps pictures were frowned upon, but I ask several dealers, and they said I could take a picture. One dealer that we deal with every year again had great stuff. I purchased a Moss Agate cabochon and a wonderful slab of Maw Sit Sit.

Maw Sit Sit from Burma (Now Myanmar)

Maw Sit Sit is a cousin of Jade, but not really Jade. It is considered a rock and not a mineral. You can look it up on line. A very interesting stone indeed. Good stuff is also quite valuable. I looked over on the counter and saw three pieces of Elbite Tourmaline. Are you kidding three pieces of fairly good Tourmaline for a give-away price? This must be a mistake. It was not. The largest piece was 2 1/2″ X 1 1/4″. The buy of the day.

Blakes Guard...Don't mess with the silver dude!

Blake Brothers' Guard...Don't mess with the silver dude!

I saw a very intimidating guard at the Blake Brother’s booth.

A scary skull available for purchase. Bumblebee is not jasper. It is a sulfur rich volcanic Tuft from Indonesia. It can be made into some very colorful Bumblebee jewelry.

We proceeded on to the 22nd Street Show. Last year we were promised an additional tent and a paved lot, but that did not happen. Half the show was fossils and dinosaurs, and the other half random gems, jewelry, cabs, and carvings. If your kids are into dinosaurs, do take them here!

Amanda Adkins has to be the "hottest" Miner around.

The entire cast of the Weather Channel Show “The Prospectors” was there. I asked Amanda Adkins for a picture. She graciously agreed. She is very tough on the show, but very nice in person. It doesn’t hurt the eyes to see her either. I enjoy the show and everyone was taking turns in the booth and selling their wares from Colorado.

A great Dendritic Agate I could not resist.

Tourmaline for four bucks. Nice buy Don.

Tourmaline bargain. Nice buy Don.

Smilodon Skull and Petrified Wood.

Check in tomorrow for more adventures from the Tucson rock shows.